I am a US resident going to school at Univ. of Toronto. Has anyone any experience with applying to med schools in the US with a BA/BS from Canada? One main concern is my GPA is not as high as it probably would be in the US. Tests are incredibly tough up here - an 80 is an A- and you can still pass classes with a 60. So GPA's are a lot closer to 3.0 than 4.0. The curve is the almightysavior. Will I get a chance to explain this is interviews (if I get that far) or will I sound like a whiner?
Other than that, I can take all the required basic classes up there.
thanks.
One guy in my class is from Canada. I don't know what his pre-med GPA was, but he did well on the MCAT, and he doesn't sound like a whiner to me when we chat about the differences in undergrad education.
Then again, he isn't a whiner to begin with, and I don't think he could sound whiney if he tried. 😉 Seriously, though, I think it would depend on how you broached the issue if/when it came up. If you are proud of your education and comfortable with your knowledge base, then there is nothing to fear.
If you do really well on the MCAT, you could (hopefully) end up with plenty of chances to explain it, in a decidedly non-whiney fashion, to admissions interview staff. Rest assured, you are definitely not the first person to apply to US medical school with foreign (so to speak) college credentials!
Good luck, eh? 🙂 (And GO LEAFS!)
Curtis Nordstrom
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"Unum nihil, duos plurimum posse..."